The Union Advantage for Black Workers

Posted
on February 12, 2014, 9:05 pm

Since at least the early 1970s –and likely earlier– black workers have been more likely than other workers to be union members.

Janelle Jones and I have a new CEPR report out today that looks at the wage and benefit boost that black workers get from union representation. We estimate that unions raise the wages of African-American workers by almost 16 percent, their chance of having employer-provided health insurance by 18 percentage points (relative to a non-union coverage rate of 49 percent), and their chance of having an employer-sponsored retirement plan by 19 percentage points (relative to a non-union rate of 39 percent).